ETHS Workshops and Programs

Industrial America

The Teach Tennessee History website is designed to assist teachers in implementing the 2015 Tennessee State Social Studies Standards. Please use the menu links to the left to access the following resources for Industrial America:

ETHS Teaching Materials: Click on ETHS Teaching Materials to find student-friendly essays and classroom activities developed by ETHS staff. The essays and activities are designed based on the Tennessee Social Studies Standards. The downloadable teacher packets also include primary sources and images when available.

5.28 Map the sources of new immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, China, and Japan, and interpret narratives and excerpts from informational text describing the role that Chinese and Irish laborers played in the development of the Transcontinental Railroad. (C, E, G, H)

5.29 Summarize why the United States was viewed as the land of opportunity by immigrants versus a growing sense of protectionism and nativism by American citizens. (C, P)

5.34 Engage in a collaborative discussion to explore the ideas and events of the Gilded Age and determine the significance, including: (C, E, H, P)

Primary Documents and Supporting Texts to Read: excerpts from Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams; excerpts from How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis; excerpts from The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

Standards US.1, US.4-US.9

US.1 Explain patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets and trade, the growth of major urban areas, and describe the geographic considerations that led to the location of specialized industries such as textiles, automobiles, and steel. (E, G)

US.4 Analyze the causes and consequences of Gilded Age politics and economics, including the rise of political machines, major scandals, civil service reform, and the economic difference between farmers, wage earners, and industrial capitalists, including the following: (E, H, P)

Boss Tweed

Thomas Nast

Credit Mobilier

Whiskey Ring

Garfield’s assassination

Pendleton Act

Interstate Commerce Act

US.5 Analyze the controversy that arose over the currency system in the late 1800’s, including the impact of gold and silver strikes in the West, the contrasting views of farmers and industrialists, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, the Gold Crisis during the Cleveland administration, and an analysis of William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold speech. (E, H, P)

US.6 Describe the changes in American life that resulted from the inventions and innovations of business leaders and entrepreneurs of the period: (C, E)

Henry Bessemer

George Pullman

Alexander Graham Bell

Andrew Carnegie

Thomas Edison

J.P. Morgan

John D. Rockefeller

Swift and Armour

Cornelius Vanderbilt

US.7 Analyze the movement of people from rural to urban areas as a result of industrialization. (E, G)

US.8 Evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media as in the political cartoons of Thomas Nast and others during the Gilded Age. (C, P)

US.9 Describe the difference between “old” and “new” immigrants and analyze the assimilation process and consequences for the “new” immigrants and their impact on American society, including ethnic clusters, competition for jobs, rise of nativism, the work of Jane Addams, the documentation of living conditions by Jacob Riis, Chinese Exclusion Acts, and the Gentlemen’s Agreement. (C, E, G).

Primary Documents and Supporting Texts to Read: excerpts from the “Cross of Gold” speech, William Jennings Bryan; excerpts from Twenty Years at Hull House, Jane Addams; excerpts from The Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie